Maritime safety: the Commission acts against
the United Kingdom

The European Commission decided today to take the
United Kingdom to the Court of Justice for failure to respect EU legislation on
ship-source pollution and on penalties for those responsible for polluting
discharges. It also decided to send a reasoned opinion to the UK authorities for
incorrectly transposing into national law legislation on the European vessel
traffic monitoring system.

The United Kingdom has failed to notify its national measures fully
transposing Directive
2005/35/EC[1]. This piece of
legislation aims at ensuring that all persons responsible for polluting
discharges at sea are subject to adequate penalties. These penalties should be
effective and dissuasive and may be of criminal or administrative nature. Their
application to any person found responsible for an infringement is expected to
enhance the protection of the marine environment from pollution by ships and to
improve maritime safety. Member States should have transposed the Directive into
their national law by 1 April 2007.

The United Kingdom has also failed to correctly transpose Directive
2002/59/EC[2] on ship
monitoring. This Directive aims at enhancing the safety of maritime traffic by
improving the response of authorities to incidents, accidents and potentially
dangerous situations at sea and thus contribute to a better prevention and
detection of pollution by ships. The Directive is an essential part of the
second maritime package adopted in the wake of the Erika disaster. It should
have been transposed by 1 May 2004.The Commission found fault in the UK
provisions relating to the exclusion of all fishing vessels and traditional
ships from the scope of the Directive.

[1] Directive 2005/35/EC of
the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on ship-source
pollution and on the introduction of penalties for infringements (OJ L 255,
30.9.2005., p. 11).

[2] Directive 2002/59/EC of
the European Parliament and of the Council of 27.6.2002 establishing a Community
vessel traffic monitoring and information system (JO L 208 of 5.8.2002, p.
10).